LINCOLN MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY
FOOTBALL
1923-26, 1930-31

Tex Turner leads the LMU Airedales against Murphy College on Cooper Field 
11-10-1923

New!! (9-6-01)-- LMU-Emory and Henry Game Stories
Coming soon -- LMU-King Game Stories!! 

LMU football was started in 1923 by LMU Physical Education teacher (and LMU student) Rollin Garrett. In the first era of LMU football (1923-26) there was only one standout...team captain and starting quarterback B. Frank "Tex" Turner. Turner was a major benefactor of LMU throughout his life and his greatest legacy at LMU is the Tex Turner Arena. Amongst the items he left to LMU are many photographs and other items relating to his years as captain of the Airedale football and basketball teams. Most of the photos on these football pages are from his collection and, like the game-by-game results, are published here for the first time.

Coach Rollin "Pop" Garrett (1923-26)
(Seen here with Tex Turner)

1923 Season -- 3-3-0

(Name of team was changed from Braves to Airedales in October of 1923)

1924 Season -- 3-4-0

*-played at Middlesboro, KY

The Airedales take the field....

1925 Season -- 5-1-2
LMU's best season in football was also the last go-around for Turner and most of the other players.

*-played at Middlesboro, KY

Tex Turner tackles a Maryville player. This game is being played in Middlesboro, KY. (Site is near current location of Lee Majors Field)

1926 Season -- 2-6-0
Coach "Pop" Garrett had the daunting task of re-building a team that returned only two players from the 1925 squad....

*-Homecoming game -- played in Middlesboro, KY

At the end of the 1926-27 school year, Coach Garrett left LMU. No one else was available who wanted the coaching job and with the loss of Tex Turner after the 1925 season to graduation LMU lost it's best player of the era. When J.D. Alexander took over the coaching duties of the basketball and track teams in 1929 he also expressed interest in reviving the LMU football program. The recent formation of the Smoky Mountain Athletic Conference as an all-sports conference (at the time meaning football, basketball and baseball) provided some more motivation for re-forming the team. So in the fall of 1930 the Airedales took the field once more. One interesting side note is that the star player for SMAC foe East Tennessee State Teachers' College (now ETSU) during this period was Dean Bailey, who would eventually take LMU basketball and baseball to several conference championships as head coach of the Railsplitters. 

Coach J. D. "Swede" Alexander (1930-31)

1930 LMU Football Squad

1930 Season -- 4-5 (2-0 in the Smoky Mountain Athletic Conference)

*-denotes SMAC team
@-Homecoming game (played at Middlesboro, KY)

Name changed from Airedales to Railsplitters in October of 1930.

1931 Season -- 4-6-1 (1-3-1 in the Smoky Mountain Athletic Conference)

Date	H/A	W/L/T	Score	Opponent
Sept. 18	A	L	0-25	Maryville College* (Night Game)
Sept. 25	A	W	13-12	Union College (Night Game)
Oct. 3	A	W	6-0	King College*
Oct. 10	H	L	0-66	Davis and Elkins College
Oct. 17	H@	L	0-13	Tusculum College*
Oct. 24	A	T	6-6	East TN State Teachers College#*
Oct. 31	H	L	0-27	TN Polytechnic Institute#
Nov. 7	A	W	13-8	Eastern KY State Teachers College#
Nov. 14	A	L	0-38	Carson-Newman College*
Nov. 21	A	L	0-39	Catawba College
Nov. 26	H	W	45-7	Sue Bennett College$

*-denotes SMAC team
@-Homecoming game

After the 1931 season, LMU dropped the football program. While many stories have made the rounds through the years as to why it was dropped, the official reason was due to the costs involved in fielding a team. After all, this was during the Great Depression. Injuries also might have played a small part as several schools in the nation dropped their football programs during this period due to injuries and even deaths that occurred on the field. Contrary to popular belief, no LMU player ever died as a result of a football injury.

# - East TN Teachers now called East Tennessee State University; East KY Teachers now called Eastern Kentucky University; TN Polytechnic Institute now called Tennessee Tech University. Ogden College merged with Western Kentucky in 1927.
$ - St. Mary's College was located in St. Mary's (near Lebanon), KY. It closed in 1976. Sue Bennett College was located in London, KY. It closed in 1997.